Improvement in car-couplings



2 Sheet'si-Sheet 1.

BAKER & IAN DYNE.

Car Coupling.

Patented Sept. 1862;

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N PETERS. PHI) UNITED STATES.

ABRAHAM o. BAKER AND JOH VAN DY E, or HYDE PARK, NEW YORK.

PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT lN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 3633 1, dated September 2, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ABRAHAM O. BAKER and JOHN VAN DYNE, both of Hyde Park, in the county of Dutchess and State of New York, have invented 'a'new and Improved Car-Coupling; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side sectional view of our invention, taken in the line w x, Fig.2; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the same, taken in theline g Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical section of the same, taken in the line 22, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts'in the severaLfigures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a car-eoupling-which will 'be self engaging or .connecting and admit of being readily disconnected by the foot of the operator or brakeman on the platform of either of thetwo cars which the, coupling connects, the parts being so arranged that the shackle of the coupling will always be retained in a horizontal position, or nearly so, in the draw-head, so as to insure its entrance into the draw-head of the car which is not provided with the shackle. I

' The invention consists in the employment or use in the draw-head of a car of two jaws acted upon by springs and having guides arranged relatively with them, and also levers and a foot-frame, ashereinafter fully shown and described, whereby the desired end is'attained.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct our invention, we will proceed to describe it.

A. represents the draw-head of a car, which isof rectangular form, and is connected with an elastic or yielding bar under the car-body,

as usual, so as to form a buffer. The draw head maybe of cast or wrought iron, and within these are placed two jaws, B B, which are formed of metal plates secured at their back ends in the draw-head on axes or journals a, andhaving projections b-at the'inncr sides of their outer ends to form hooks,as shown clearly in Fig. 1.

O (J C 0 represents pri i.igs,which bear against the outer surfaces of thejaws B B, and have a tendency to keep their outer ends towardeach other and to keep transverse bars D, which The ends of the shaft F extend through the side of the draw-head and have each an arm,G, attached to them, These arms extend upward above the ,draw-head,and are connected bya cross-bar, H. (See more particularly Fig. 3.)

I I represent two guides, which are attached one to the upper and the other to the lower plate of the draw-head. These guides, when the jaws B B are distended, pass through slots 0 c in thej aws.

J is a shackle, which is formed of a straight bar, d, having a .V-shaped head, 6, at eachend. The back ends of the heads e projectsufficient-ly out from the bard of theshackle to form shouldersff, as shown in Fig. 1, and when the shackle is forced into the draw-head the head e of the shackle will force apart the jaws B B and pass between the guides I I, the projections.

b I) ofthejaws B B being forced down behind the shoulders ff of the head e of the shackle as soon as said shoulders passbehind the projections D1).

'The guides I I serve as bearings for the head e of the shackle and keep it in a horizontal po sition when not supported at its outer end}.

thereby enabling the shackle to enter the draw: head of an approaching car; and in order to prevent the shackle J being forced back within the draw-head A when entering between the jaws of an approaching draw-head, a stop, K,is used for the end of the shackle to bear against, said stop being simply a crossbar fitted in the d rawheada (See Figs. 1 and 2.)

' -Thus it will be seen that the device is selfcoupling, a person not being required to pass between the platform of two cars-in order to connect them. The pull of the shackle is on the jaws B B, and in order to disconnect the shackle the operator or brakeman forces outcient and possesses the advantage .of not reqnir-. Y

The yielding jaws B B, with the transverse bars D D attached, in combination with the shackle J and levers E E, thelatter being placed on the shaft F, which is provided with the arms G G, connected by the cross-bar H, the above parts being used with or without the guides I I, i

and fitted in or applied to the draw-head A, as and for the purpose set forth.

ABRAHAM O. BAKER.v JOHN VAN DYNE,

Witnesses:

W. B. OUTWATER, J. Z. STORES. 

